Sunday, September 12, 1999; 12:22 a.m. EDT

MIAMI (AP) -- The first Miami concert scheduled by a popular dance band from Cuba was canceled after complaints from anti-Castro Cuban exiles, including the city's Cuban-American mayor.

The private company that runs the concert hall decided on Friday to cancel the band Los Van Van's Oct. 9 show after a flurry of complaints.

After the band's concert was announced Wednesday, Spanish-language radio stations urged listeners to flood City Hall with complaints. Local leaders also urged residents to oppose the show.

``This is the official Communist band of Fidel Castro,'' said Miami Mayor Joe Carollo.

The band's New York label, Havana Caliente, plans to go to court Monday to reschedule the concert. ``We won't sit still and take it,'' said label president Maria Zenoz.

``There's no Miami exception to the First Amendment,'' said John de Leon, an attorney who heads the American Civil Liberties Union's Miami office.

The politics of Cuban exiles have influenced local events before, including the prevention of a Pan-American Games in the county and the cancellation of a MIDEM Americas music industry party last year because Cuban musicians were to have played.

Miami Beach promoter Debbie Ohanian said the cancellation surprised her because she had complied with all city requirements, getting extra insurance, metal detectors and extra security at the hall, and a marine patrol on the Miami River.

Los Van Van, fearing potential protests, haven't played in Miami during previous U.S. tours. But band leaders thought the political temperature had cooled enough to schedule the show at the end of its current 26-date tour.